In Case You Didn't Know
by LadyGoofy
Summary: Monsters succeeded to live on the surface, but not in the way they hoped. In which Reader(You) is a rookie detective that craves heroic adventure and helps a bitty find his way home.
1. Ch 1 (Replaced!)

About 10 years back, a small child was lost. People went ape shit worried about this child. High rewards, search teams, even the news and Amber Alerts went off about this child. It seemed that Frisk, no seriously that's the name of the kid, was the remaining survivor of a homicide.

The victims? Their wealthy parents.

Of course you weren't there, you only remember bits and pieces of that day, you being 10 at the time, but your parents; Oh man your amazing parents were the lead detectives on the scene.

THEY were the ones to conclude that the burnt child corpse was not Frisk but some poor unfortunate kid.

THEY were the ones to find the ones who had kidnapped Frisk.

THEY were the ones that almost stopped Frisk from jumping.

And THEY were the ones to never stop searching the mountain.

Day and night, they searched. Chief wanted to drop the case. But your parents, they were stubborn. 3 years later, they had a break through. They found Frisk, emerging from an exit near the top of that cave. But they weren't alone. Surrounding Frisk was a crew of strange tiny little creatures.

Monsters.

Who would have known they were real?

Rumors and conspiracies exploded the news papers and stations. Your parents became hero's, but that day you thought.

"I want to be just like them."

4 years later the monsters thrived. Though not as people, no. Due to their fragility and stature, sadly the monsters became "companions". Pets. It was easy, for humans of course, to take all the research material needed to "make more monsters".

They were useful, they were cute, they were exotic.

Face it. Humans are disgusting and manipulative.

At least they had the common decency to TRY and treat the monsters higher than animals.

A stack of manilla folders slamming into your desk jerked you back to the present.

"(R/N)! Your falling behind on paperwork!"

You groaned. Of course this was what you dreamed of your entire life. Not. Being a rookie detective sucked. You did the filing, paperwork, the research, the lunch runs, coffee runs, you name it, you did it. Your head detective though, despite all of your help in the investigations, took all the credit. Detective Brian Larson. Known for 30 major solved crimes in this following year. Though of course, no mention of you and YOUR hard work.

"Okay one, this isn't my paper work. This is yours Larson. Two, it's not even paperwork on a case, it's your taxes so. What. The. Hell."

"Good eye there (R/N). But seriously, can you do them?"

"No? As you said, I'm falling behind on paperwork. REAL paperwork. That I get PAID to do."

Brian whined but eventually grabbed his files and left. He wasn't a bad guy, you two got a long great. He was just overbearing sometimes, his superiority complex would surface and yea. Work was actually pretty easy for you anyway, your main problem was the repeatitive atmosphere. It got boring. You wanted to do things, help people, be of assistance. Not BE an assistant. You worked your ass off to pass that damned test, by hell you weren't gunna get out there and get some action.

On the side lines.

Where you were normally sent.

You dropped the stack of papers in the basket on the right end of your desk. Finally done. Scooting your chair back and stashing your heels in the bottom drawer in your desk you slipped on your sneakers and coat then gathered up your bag and umbrella. Yea okay, you were a cheater. You never actually wore your heel TO work but only around the office. Enough to pass dress code. The perfect crime. Employee dares to rebel against dress code in secrecy under her desk.

"Later Larson! Have fun with your taxes!"

Your shoes made that humorous (though annoying to some) squeaking sound as you approached the entrance exit of the police department. Popping open your umbrella, you made the miserable wet walk to the grocer for food substance for the night. No you weren't poor. You actually managed your money pretty well. You just weren't the type to constantly get fast food, or make a normal dinner. Your simple little sandwiches, soups, salads, maybe a slice of pie was enough. Grabbing your food things of choice, you sped walked home. You still had a bit of a way to go. Despite the rain and grey sky, pedestrians were everywhere. Children playing in puddles, cars throwing water as they passed intersections, a whining mass or cloth huddled in a corner.

You stopped and took a step back.

Under a bench huddled in a corner next to the brick wall of some random business that didn't really matter at the moment was exactly what you thought. A shivering lump whining pathetically. By the sound it was making it was obviously not a stray cat or dog. The sound was too high pitched to be a child. Stepping forward, you sat your bags down and knelt onto the wet cement.

"Hello? Are you okay?"

The lump shifted and a head poked out. Large dark holes on a little white face. "N-no."

"Are you lost?"

Globs of blue tears were running down it's pale face as it nodded fast. "I-I lost him! I don't kn-now where I am." The creature started sobbing loudly and some on lookers stared but carried on with their own business.

"Shhhh sweetie it's okay. I work at the police department." To reassure the poor thing you pulled out your badge and continued. "You can stay with me for the night. Get warm, eat, et cetra. And describe your family to me and I can bring it up to my boss tomorrow."

The little monster sniffled and scooted closer to your badge, sniffing your offered hand cautiously, then lifting it's arms up. "Please? I-I miss them so m-much."

Ah. Your suspicions were correct. It was a bitty (What humanity decided to call small monsters) and it was a skeleton. They were kinda rare and only male. You carefully picked up the poor soaked thing and your bags of groceries.

"My name is (R/N) what's yours sweetie?"

"Sahns."

"Well Sans, I hope you like soup, seems like perfect weather for it don't you think?"

His little hands grasped your shirt tightly and he sniffled out a meek yes.

Once home, you made quick work helping Sans change into dry clothes, which was one of your tank tops that was still far too large and wrapped him up in a thick blanket.

"Okay while you warm up I'm just going to cook some dinner and we'll talk after your comfortable."

"Thank you for helping me. I guess you could say I was chilled to the bone ."

Sans' bones rattled with his laughter and you couldn't help but snicker. That was a good one. After eating some soup and grilled cheeses, you examined his collar as he spoke. Normally these things would contain the address, a gps chip, and all forms of paperwork. The collar had signs of tampering, the adoption forms, vet receipts, and immunization records were all gone. The only thing that would show up was "Sans" "Skeleton".

"We went shopping and he gave me a blanket to stay warm. I only looked away for a minute I swear! And he was gone!"

"Who's he Sans?"

"He! My owner!"

"You don't know his actually name?"

Sans shook his head and frowned. Your blood boiled in anger. Poor bitty didn't know he was abandoned. You smiled. Monsters had a tendency to sense a humans mood through their soul and you didn't want Sans to think you were mad at him.

"It'll be okay."

The two of you watched some tv. Yea. It'll be fine once you kick his owners ass and arrest him. It was a HUGE offence to abandon a bitty or even put them in any forms of danger. At least a 5 year felony if you were correct. Sometime during your mental ranting on what you were going to do to Sans' owner, you had fallen asleep with the poor dear snuggling into your stomach.

"I'll help you. No matter what."

 **OoOoO**

 **ATTEMPT NUMBER 3 TRYING TO POST THIS AS NORMAL**

 **OKAY! First two times kept showing up wacky as hell. Jeez. Hope y'all can read it this time.**


	2. Chapter 2 (Replaced!)

**Ch. 2 Oh Sweetpea, This Is Just The Beginning**

You awoke the next morning sprawled on the couch, one leg hanging off, the foot on your other shoved deeply underneath the cushion of the couch and your head wedged between the backrest and a support pillow. Currently, you regret everything in your life. You could barely turn your head without sending immense pain to your head and shoulders. Your chest also felt heavy.

Slowly, you sat up and looked around your living room. The morning sun was trickling through your the cracks of your curtains and you stretched then stood. By that time your shirt was being pulled down and you finally noticed the small skeleton hanging on your front like a possum or koala?

You tried pulling the little skele off, but to no avail and just left him hanging from your torso as you went around to start your morning ritual (minus the bathroom). You check his clothes on your drying rack in the kitchen while you prepared coffee and oatmeal. You also sent a quick text to the Chief about finding him last night and bringing Sans in today, she had no problem.

You never thought you'd ask yourself the question, "How hard can a skeleton sleep?".

The answer?

You had to google it of course, you didn't exactly know much about monster pets anyway and google was your best friend.

Ah, a few links later you finally found a forum of a concerned skele owner who feared their skeleton was sick. Scrolling through the forum informed you on the different attributes skeletons had (accompanied by strange breed names). But alas, you know nothing and you were going to be late if you sat around waiting.

"Sans?"

Nothing.

"Sans sweetie you need to wake up."

Is he even breathing? Do skeletons breathe?

At this point you were literally trying to tug the little monster off, and when you finally peeled him off he woke up.

It wasn't even like a cute or pleasant awakening but instant panic and tiny little surges of blue magic zapping and nipping at your fingers and hands which surprised you. How much magic can a tiny little thing have to surpass a magic inhibiting collar? Despite all those thoughts you squished him right back into your chest and stroked your palm over his skull.

"Shh shhh, it's alright it's just me darling."

After a few minutes of rocking, patting, stroking, and kissing the bundle of sniffling jabbing points in your chest Sans had calmed down and wearily eyed around your apartment then you. He seemed to have finally understood his situation and pushed against you until you stood him on the floor.

"I'm sorry I had to wake you up but I have to get ready for work. I made breakfast if your hungry and your clothes are dry, will you be okay in the kitchen by yourself while I get ready?"

He nodded and you patted his head, "help yourself to anything in the kitchen" and darted into your room to get dressed.

The Chief leaned back in her chair and sighed. "Clearly he's abandoned, previous abuse is evident. But the lack of information on his collar is concerning enough to opened a search case on his previous owner." She opened a drawer and took out a manilla folder and a stack of stapled papers separated in two stacks.

"This stack is to open the case for other officers and detectives be aware or to take the job, this other stack is for legally documenting him under foster care."

"Foster care ma'am?" You gently picked up the paperwork and skimmed through it as she spoke.

"Yes. Unlike animals, I'm sure you've noticed, Monsters are intelligent sentient beings. That being said it's illegal to euthanize a monster without cause. Under the strange circumstances of this one," she motioned to Sans who had been quietly observing the universal chip scanner the two of you had used to pull up his information, "it's not safe to put him up for adoption. There's a possibility he's still processing the past events he had gone through and may have a break down. In this case we have specially trained officers that foster abused monsters and help them mentally, emotionally, and physically recover."

She rubbed her temple, "Though, we've never taken in a skeleton. I don't know how long it would take for an officer to take him in. And he's going to need one fast if we're to get a professional monster vet to unlatch that collar for evidence."

That's true, you completely forgot that could happen. You glanced at Sans again, this time he was watching the clacking balls on the Chief's desk completely mesmerized. You were stuck at an ultimatum. You found him, he was cute, you did want to do the case on your own just for the pleasure of interrogating his previous owner, but, and that's a big but. Your lack of knowledge made you iffy on fostering him.

You've never had a pet, let alone a plant. Who's to say you could take care of a monster.

After flipping through another few pages you stopped. This was interesting, if you or any officer were to foster him (or any monster) you can legally take him anywhere, even places that had banned monsters that would normally accept regular animals (like some vets, service animal accepted establishments, pet stores, parks, etc). That was definitely a thumbs up.

"I guess we'll just have to keep him at the shelter for now."

"The shelter ma'am? I thought he'd stay somewhere else to prevent a possible break down."

"That is if someone claims him today."

You forgot to consider how long would take for him to be picked up. Man your not good under pressure.

"Sans, what would you like for lunch?"

Currently you were at your desk with Sans sitting on the top looking through restaurant pamphlet. You needed to finish the case work on him so you could file it but you didn't want to starve him.

"I get to pick?"

"Of course booger."

You poked his hard little cheek bone. His face brighten up and he held up a paper.

"Ooh honey, that's a coupon for a bottle of ketchup."

"I know!"

"Why don't you choose something more filling?"

"(r/ln) (r/ln) (r/ln), you really don't know anything do you?"

You didn't even have to look up to know Brian Larson was standing behind you. "May I help you Detective?" He walked around you and lounged in a chair next to your desk, you didn't exactly like the way he was eyeing Sans.

"No. But it seems you actually need my help right now."

"Oh yea?"

Brian leaned over to scoot his chair closer, Sans tried to back away from him but couldn't with all the clutter surrounding your desk. "See the shape of his skull? You have an Older Brother breed."

"Uhh?"

He sighed and reached over to your mini printer and took a sheet of clean paper. "Skeletons have two breeds then a list of breeds within those two. The two main breeds being Older Brother and Younger Brother." As he spoke he was delicately folding and creasing the paper in separate strips. "It's common for the Older Brother breeds to have an obsession with condiments, each breed has their own favorite though. The Younger Brother breed is the same but with pasta's."

You were completely baffled that he knew any of this when the internet didn't even have information.

"So how do you know all of this?"

"I've done a few cases where the client had a monster. In some of those cases the monster ended up being a key witness or evidence. In one of those cases the client had a pair of skeletons."  
He had a small pile of hexagons laying in front of him as he handed one to Sans who watched in curiosity.

"In that particular case…"

Brian pinches the sides and pushes. The hexagon slowly forms into a 3d star, the lights in Sans' sockets exploded into little sparkles and he automatically started to attempt squishing the remaining hexagons into stars. Brian claimed your attention when he spoke up again.

"The Older Brother went missing. The Younger Brother broke down. Later on the case we found that someone was using the unique body shape of Older Brothers to fake child deaths. Anyway, I'm not going to get to far into it," he nodded his head into Sans' direction "but finding one separated from the other is typically bad news."

Your blood ran cold and your chest ached. The only thing you could do was imagine that skeleton being your Sans.

"After that case I did what I could to learn about all monsters."

Wow your starting to actually respect your superior. Brian leaned over and snatched up the case file and stood.

"Skeletons are all about trust. I recommend you foster this one, he already trusts you."

With that he walked away and you watched Sans pinch and squeeze the hexagons, the ketchup coupon laid forgotten next to him.

Fuck.

Your too far deep.

 **OoOoO**

I hope it actually stays posted normal this time. I don't know why I have to struggle with this fic with that problem and not the others. (Though if I was actually good at code it'd be cool and make sense)

Also I re-edited it to have the chapter name before the story so everyone that was trying to read it before that couldn't would now the chapter was replaced.


	3. Chapter 3

This morning was a little like the last, waking up to a boney little monster clinging to your front. But this time you know how to wake him up (at least you hoped it would work). Reaching over next to your alarm you grabbed a ketchup packet and ripped the corner off.

Squeeze a little out.

Hold it under where his nose should be.

Feel his hands loosen from your shirt and reach out with one hand to grab the packet. Oh dear. He's just slurping on it. It's so cute and disgusting at the same time. You successfully unlatch him from your front. You need to thank Brian for the tip.

Head down the hall to the bathroom to get ready for the day and remember everything up until now, you were still incredibly conflicted on fostering Sans. He was fun to have around, he was calm and funny and he seemed to have been warming up to you as you were to him. Your superior was never one to willingly contact a co-worker, but he had been constantly checking up on you and Sans and offering to give you all his research notes on skeletons and their behavior. It did make you lean more toward to keeping him with you.

A light clacking down the hall caught your attention. Sans must be up now. Finish up and throw on a bra before opening the bathroom door.

"In here sweetie, just getting my face on!"

The clacking speeds up and rams right into your legs, nearly toppling you down. Sans lets out a series of whimpers and muffles.

"Sorry, what was that?"

You pull him back a little and kneel down. He has blue streaks down his face, but the moment he focuses on your own he looks up surprised.

"y-you said you had to put on your face! i thought you lost it!"

Oh your insides. They're melting.

"I didn't actually lose my face, I just ment I was going to put makeup on."

You pick him up and sit him on the counter and wet down a wash cloth to wipe his face.

"I have to look nice for work don't you think?"

"but you already look nice.."

You rinse off the cloth and hang it on the shower rack and smile down at him, "Well thank you." grab all of your facial essentials and finish up.

"So have you decided?"

"I really honestly don't know Brian."

"Come on he likes you! Look at him, he's collecting all those stars in the ketchup bottle you bought him."

You glance over at sans, and yes it's true. You took the liberty to spend a little extra on the glass bottle instead of the crummy plastic one, and after finishing it Sans decided to clean out the inside to put his hard work into.

"It's like you're trying to persuade me to buy a house Brian, you're not being helpful at all."

"A house doesn't have trust issues with the human race."

He has a point. Brian sighs and speaks lower.

"The sooner you adopt him, the sooner we start his case."

He pats you on the shoulder, stops to pat Sans on the head, and continues to the Chief's office. You sigh and grab the rest of your paperwork, Sans noticed you returning and grinned whilst scooting to the side of the desk, dragging all his paper with him.

You open your drawers and put away the papers accordingly and stop to stare at the foster forms.

"Sans?"

He looks up from his crumpled star squished between his fingers.

"Do you like me?"

A blue tint dusted his cheekbones and you smiled, which caused him to avert his gaze and clear his throat? Does he have one? Like he eats and- no nononono that's not important right now!

"i-i do. you're very nice and you let me live with you and you're fun."

Shit. Does he think you already "claimed" him?

The Chief's door slamming open caused nearly everyone to jump in surprise, patting your chest to calm your heart (though this never worked, it was just a habit you got from watching too much Jackie Chan Adventures when you were younger) Brian quickly strides up to you. "(R/N)! We have a body, lets go."

"Oh! But, uh." You look down at Sans who got to his feet and watching the two of you.

"Remember? He can go on investigations."

"But to see a body?"

"He doesn't have to be face to face! He can stand next to an officer by the tape."

Frowning, you obliged and picked Sans up.

Uhg.

Right in front of you was a male body, late 30's, caucasian, and extremely water engorged. He was decently dressed, white button up and black slax, no shoes and a black sock half way hanging off a foot (more than likely caused by the currents of the lake). You quickly glanced at Sans who was "guarding" the entrance of the scene. But it seemed pedestrians were more interested in the cute skeleton monster acting like a guard dog rather than the corpse sprawled out on the shore.

So far so good.

Brian was knelt by the body, latex gloves on, and examining as close as he could without literally touching.

"Small lacerations, probable cause from debris in the water. All types of identification not apparent at the moment."

You were struggling with copying down all his mumbling in your notebook as fast as you could. "(r/n)! (r/n)-!"

Before you could stop him, Sans had ran up and was now staring down at the body, eye lights gone and beads of sweat collecting on his skull. Cursing, you automatically dropped everything and snatched him up in your arms, burying his face into your shoulder and holding it there with your hand to prevent him from looking back up.

"Sans I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. You shouldn't have seen anything."

He didn't speak, he didn't move. Even getting back to the car his eye lights were off. He didn't react to ketchup either. Did he pass out? He wasn't clinging to you.

You ended up going home early due to the state Sans was still in. The body was being examined anyway so it didn't really matter much if you left early or not.

You made dinner.

You watched tv.

You even took a bath, and he still hadn't budged at all.

It wasn't until about 12 a.m. You actually started the foster forms, texting your superior for help on some parts that you didn't understand when Sans decided to wake up. You hadn't realized that he woken up until he flopped onto the couch next to you.

"S-sans!"

Basically tossing everything to the floor and scooping him up and placing kisses all over the top of his skull.

"How're you feeling?"

"...do you see stuff like that all the time?"

"Uh, yes..? That doesn't tell me how you'r-"

"have you ever gotten hurt?"

"During a case? A few times."

"do you have to find who murdered him?"

"It is my job now, yes. Sans, are you okay? You haven't answered my question."

He didn't say anything. All he did was turn his head to the side, empty sockets staring at the papers you threw on the floor.

"if you finish it, i'll protect you from what killed him. i'll protect you from anything."


	4. Chapter 4

**Took me a while to actually get this posted up here sorry!**

 **OoOoO**

It had been a week since you turned in the foster forms, after that it had been more endless paperwork and home visits to deem you reliable to care for another life. Brian ended up taking the found body case all to himself so you didn't have to worry about getting behind on meetings and your own work then your personnel paperwork for Sans. It was taking so long due to his chip history being wiped.

Today, hopefully things will be different.

And by different you mean slightly stressful, no one likes going to the doctor and you were nervous on how Sans would act once they break that collar off him. On the outside, Sans was the epitome of calm and relaxed while sitting next to you in the waiting room of the Monster Vet Hospital. On the inside, he had to be freaking out you were sure of that.

Monsters and owners were sitting around either talking to each other, watching video's on phones, or in some cases the owners consoling scared or ill Monsters. Which was weird, you didn't know Monsters could get sick?

The door opens and a girl skips out with a small bunny Monster holding a wrapped up bisicle and an adult woman shuffling through her wallet.

Oh shit.

You forgot this may cost money. How much are check ups? Will you have enough money? Pull out your phone and unlock the screen, a woman opens the door and calls your and Sans' names. Shit.

Sans gets up before you do and you just follow behind him as he follows behind the nurse. Okay maybe he is cool as a cucumber, maybe your just the one scared shitless.

You hoist Sans up onto the examination table (that was surprisingly cushioned) and he shrugged off his little blue jacket, shoes, and socks. You guess he's use to this sort of thing? He certainly seemed prepared. The Doctor walks in, the moment he saw Sans, a smile blossoms on his face and he had a new pep in his step.

"How are you two today?"

Sans shrugged and you answered and asked the same question back.

"I'm doing much better now with a dashing Skeleton put under my care!"

He continues to talk as he did the simple stuff, checking in Sans' face holes, teeth, bones, skull, from top to bottom Sans was examined.

"Well from the length and wear of his teeth, bottom of his feet, and the palm of his hands he's MUCH older than any Monster I've ever had under my care. I'd go as far to say he's older than me!"

He moves to the side and holds up a pair of bolt cutters. "Now this is what I would be using to cut the collar off your bitty. But, due to his age and lack of information he may have a large holdup of magic just waiting to pour out and replenish and continue to release. I will just need your consent to take him into a magic proof room to insure no damage comes to us or himself."

Sans seems a little tense and you speak up, "I get to be near? Just in case?" the Doctor chuckles. "Well of course."

He lets you collect Sans' stuff and carry him into another room, all the while you were whispering to Sans asking him if it was okay and if he wanted to go through with it. He assured you he was perfectly fine and that it'd make things easier to remember. You asked him what that means but he never answered.

The Doctor holds out a little paper gown to Sans, "Just so your magic doesn't tear up your own clothes. I'm sure you didn't bring extra." true. You didn't bring extra.

You sit down and talk with the Doctor, learning that his name is Max and that he will be Sans' primary care provider until further notice. Sans came back and gave you the rest of his clothes before following Max into the protection room. He wasn't strapped down or anything, just sitting comfortably in a squishy chair. Max holds up the bolt cutters up to the collar.

SNAP

Max darts out of the room and slams the door shut. Even going as far as locking it. He stood next to you with a stopwatch in hand, watching Sans carefully.

After about 5 minutes things started to change. Sans was being surrounded by blue magic and he was blipping here and there all over the room. Even the chair he was sitting it was violently being thrown around in the room. Your eyes widened in fear when multiple large split skulls appeared and shot huge beams of light all over the room. The beams were so strong, the protective two way pexi glass you were behind started cracking. You couldn't stand watching him, he was gripping anything and everything he could (mostly himself or his gown). The nurses next to you were jotting down everything they could before Max slammed the door open and ran in, one dropped her clip board on the table and the other grabbed the cart and wheeled it into the room and they made quick work with stifling the screams you couldn't hear before.

You weren't allowed in just yet and could only watch as a third nurse showed up with a little bed and they placed a new collar onto Sans after he passed out and finally let you into the room.

"As I thought, he had way too much magic contained inside him, still does for that matter. Strangely enough his magic was so strong he started to mutate."

And you could tell he did. Sans was slightly larger now and was sporting a bony tail.

"The collar he has now contains three drain points, here here and here. You will have to drain one three times a day, one each time. So this one for the morning, this one for noon, and this one before bed." He continued to point at each with his pen and writing everything down as he went. "He will be able to use magic but nothing bigger than simple telekinesis until further notice. This collar is going to help us regulate his magic for his size. It seems who ever had him before designed the previous collar to absorb and increase his magic to the point he would've just prrrf." Max imitated the sound an explosion and flared his fingers out.

"We will contact your higher ups and fax all this information to be added to his file. In the meantime, we'll take the two of you to a recovering room, send up some Monster food for him once he wakes up and we'll continue to run tests on that old collar."

He walked away before you could thank him and the nurses wheeled Sans out, going the opposite direction.

You looked down at his clothes you were holding and noticed how much you were shaking. Who knew something so small had such power.


	5. Chapter 5

Sadly, you were relieved that you didn't need to pay anything for Sans' "check-up". But you did feel bad when he finally woke up weak and disoriented. You helped dress him into his regular clothes and propped him onto your hip, he was large enough that his old clothes were a bit tight on him now. His baggy shorts hugged under the large curve of his ilium and his newly grown tail prevented them from being pulled up even more. He didn't bother with a shirt, but his baggy jacket was now a form fitted jacket.

Max had given you a bag of donated clothes that would fit Sans for now, a copy of the faxed report, and further instructions with emergency contacts. You pet Sans' skull all the way home. You helped him bathe (poor dear was too exhausted to be embarrassed), dressed him up, and bundled him in blankets on the couch and turned the T.V. onto a random documentary.

The paperwork claimed that he may be a little nauseated so you made ketchup soup (you warmed ketchup in a pot. That's soup right?) and tea. You spoon fed him until he was able to sit up straighter and guzzle down all the warmed up ketchup. A little while more he finished off the tea and curled up in your lap, eye lights twinkling like the stars and galaxies on the screen.

"You feeling better?"

Sans' only answer was a loud thwumping from his tail on the cushion next to you. Upon closer inspection, you can see that the top layer of bone from the base all the way to the end was tinged blue and you frowned. It seemed his new extremity would be very sensitive for a while. At least until the blue fades to white.

Running your fingers consistently all over his skull revealed a few bumps. They weren't noticeable by just looking, but lining up your fingers with each bump seemed they were ment to be something more caused by his mutation. Maybe they would've been horns? They seemed to have lined up that way. Either way, Sans seems to enjoy you lightly scratching those areas now.

You weren't very interested in documentaries, but you did enjoy watching funny video's on your phone.

"i don't mean to be de _layed_ but isn't it time for bed?"

Quickly checking your screen to confirm the time, "Oh! Your right it i-"

…

"Was that a pun?"

Sans tensed up in your lap and looked away. You recover the relaxed atmosphere by giggling into the back of your hand. You liked corny stuff, and puns? Puns are just the corniest. Sans looked back up you with the biggest grin and jammed his head into the side of your neck and clung to you. Yup, ready for bed. Prop your arms under where his rump would be to support his new added weight and carry him into your room. Crawling into bed and snuggling up, your still surprised on how a skeleton can produce heat, but you weren't complaining. Kiss his brow and murmur a soft good night, the two of you fell asleep fast.

Everyone was excited to see Sans. They gushed over his tail and treated him to ketchup packets from different restaurants. Looks like he was officially apart of everyday life now. But you did run into the issue of him sitting on your desk. With permission from Chief, an empty desk was shoved up against yours and Sans even got his own name plate to prop up on the corner. (It was just cardboard with his name written on it with lots of glitter and doodles.)

Had gone over all the pictures from the case your superior took over. The man whom passed away under unknown circumstances was still nameless. His DNA didn't match up with anyone which raised everyone's suspicions. But with no more viable information, the case was put to the side.

Releasing Sans' magic was actually kind of cool? When unlatching the valves his left eye would bleed out blue magic, spark, and flare up like a flame. Slowly the blaze will calm down and it'd be just smoky wisps of blue. You were confused as to why only the left side released his magic, but Sans would shrug off your inquiries. It usually took a while for the magic to die down from his eye too, perhaps because the other didn't work that way?

Sans also seemed to go more confident as the days went by.

He was a funny little bugger. His demeanor and eyes looked more relaxed, though you've grown close enough to easily see how fast he can go from relaxed to stressed, tense, and on guard. When out in public he'd walk in front of you. He'd shoot jokes and puns out left and right. " _i decided that becoming a vegetarian was a mis-steak."_ " _but no seriously, can we get some vegs?"_

Though there was a lot of trial and error. You learned to completely avoid spaghetti noodles and tomato sauce. You had to put away your red scarf and purchase a different color that was shorter and less flowy.

On one of your shopping trips, you learned Sans had become quite protective. He would raise his back like a cat trying to appear larger, though with him it would cause the back of his shirt and jacket to get torn up from his slightly sharp spinous process. It still worked the same and would intimidate your harassers (and other pedestrians). Because of this, you had Sans cling to your back and you would wear a jacket over him. Nice and dark for a napping skeleton, and easier in and out shopping runs. People had suspected you were wearing a backpack until the "fake bone tail connected to your jacket" was a REAL bone tail connected to your cuddle monster.

Sans had gone on a few more cases with you, they were simple enough and due to his help, Sans earned his own plastic badge. He would act like it was no big deal until he would hold it up with pride before chasing down a running perp with you.

But today. You were tense. It had been a few months, the air was cool enough you could wear your new not red plain scarf and a large jacket. The weather wasn't why you were tense. Another body was found. A Jane Doe this time. She was young, but older than you. The wrinkles on her face causing a permanent scowl. Sans had poked his head from underneath your jacket, but he acted perfectly fine. Maybe because he wasn't face to face but at a short distance?

Detective Larson was walking around looking for clues. There were signs of a small struggle (an empty briefcase left open on the ground away from the woman) and her casual clothing was a mess. The side of Sans' skull was pressed up against your ear, you could literally hear the cogs turning and the hamster wheel squealing. His eyes scanned the women, darted around the empty storage shed, then back at her. He huffed and sunk back down into the shadowy depths of your coat.

After closer examination at the morgue, they found Monster dust under her fingernails. Before leaving, Sans finally spoke up from your back.

"see that freckle on the shell of her left ear? look at it closer."

The mortician took Sans' advice and 'hmmed' in thought.

"Well?" Larson barked out and nudged the mortician to the side to get a look for himself. "Oh."

"What is it?"

"It's a black heart."

"Okay?"

The mortician grabs a magnifying glass and looks closer, "As I thought, it is a tattoo. I'd say a few years old."

"you should check that unclaimed body from last time to see if he has the same thing."

Everyone looked to Sans in question before dispersing. "What was that about?" Sans shrugged. "I may have an idea on who these people are."

 **OoOoO**

 **Thank you all for the comments, ya'll are really amazing.**


	6. Author Note 122817

HELLO! This is positive Authors note! Made December 28th of 2017!

Basically what's going on is that a few fics need a mass update and others need to be added. SO if you were reading this before the Authors Note, everything after this will be new! Unless you caught up on my AO3 (under the same account name!)

This same Author's note will either be posted at the bottom of the 2 new fics I hadn't posted or before the chapters that hadn't been posted yet to mark that ya'll hadn't lost your reading spot!

Thank you for the long wait!

Other news; Yes, my laptop is fixed, I have a new phone as well. But updates WILL still be SLOW. I'm back to working and currently I'm in the waiting list for a headstart preschool for my kiddo and holidays have been hectic. But I'm excited to start writing again, so thank you again for being so patient!


	7. Chapter 6: Bitty Vacation?

It's been a few months and a few appointments since the last body was found. Sans had a decent idea of checking to see if the first body had the same tattoo as the second but none was found. It had put a little dent on the investigation, but was noted to check any and all 'freckles' on any body to be found or discovered.

Your private mission on finding Sans' previous owner had been met with a dead end a while back. Though you took precautions on documenting his personality, attitude, and health.

Which brought you to the assumption that Sans had been raised in a black market esque environment. While there had been no leads to the random body's you and detective Larson had backtracked on Sans' situation. The two of you had sat down with the little skeleton and asked him simple questions.

It came up that no, he doesn't remember having a 'Younger Brother'. In his previous home he was rarely allowed to go outside. His previous owner always had well dressed friends visiting and sometimes friends that wore sterile garbs, like those at a hospital or vet. Once a month he'd be 'injected' with something that burned his soul uncomfortably and made him tremble and rattle with adrenaline.

The place he lived at had a tall window where he could clearly see the milky way, obviously outside of town.

And at night he could hear crying and screaming from out in the distance, the voices never came from the house he lived in.

For being a good sport, you decided to take Sans out. It really struck your heart to know he never got to play outside, especially with other bitties. So you took him to a bitty shop.

Due to the different size and shapes of bitties it was required for each shop to have a training room, playpen (which was like a miniature park), lunch room, clinic, and shop (for any essential one may need to care for a bitty).

The moment you two walked in hand and hand, Sans was flocked by other bittys and owners swooning on his adorable unique features. The employees requested pictures and questioned you on Sans individualized look. By the time you had the chance to look down, he'd been dragged away with a group of bitties.

Simply you just grabbed a table as close to the play inclosure as you could and pulled out your briefcase.

Every now and then you glanced up to check that he was indeed fine, most of the time he was sitting or lying down, but fine.

"So is that your skellie?"

You look up to be met with a woman that seemed to be in her late 40's.

"Uhm yes he is."

She clasped her hands and stepped to the side to show off a much smaller skeleton. Though he looked like your Sans in so many ways other than his little eye lights being large and blue. "I was wondering if I could possibly purchase the adoption forms of your 'unique' Older Brother so my Younger Brother here can have a companion."

"No."

Her smile dropped a little bit but it picked itself right back up, "That is alright dear." she turned around and knelt in front of her bitty. "How about you go play with him darling?" The bitty nodded in excitement and kissed her cheek before throwing himself over the enclosure wall and making his way to Sans. You watched in amusement when Sans just thwumped his tail and allowed the smaller bitty to examine him from top to bottom.

The elderly woman takes a spot at your table. Wellp, you know where this is leading to. You quickly stack all of your work back into your briefcase and sit it to the side.

"How did you get your hands on such a darling looking bitty?"

"Adoption."

You chuckle when the smaller skeleton tries to drag Sans in what you assume to be a show of strength but was failing miserably. He notices you watching and flashes you a huge grin with a thumbs up.

"What breed is he? He looks to be a classic."

"What?"

You look up to her and she's silent for a moment. "Oh my. You seriously don't know?" You shake your head and she smiles sweetly. Why is this woman so nice.

"My dear. You haven't had a skeleton for long have you?"

She turns completely in her chair and flattens wrinkles in her blouse. "Skeletons are rare bitty's because their so particular with what they want. We have the two categories Older Brother and Younger Brother -"

"I know about those."

She nods, "Good. Then with both of those we have Classic, Fell, Swap, Swapfell which is a cross breed of the Fell and Swap, and many more. But those are the most popular. Those breeds also count for all bitty's. It's a huge deal with the skeleton's because of the 'pairing'. They're companion bitty's. Depending on their age, they have to have another skeleton that falls into the Older Brother or Younger brother category to mentally and emotionally survive." she points to a little flame bitty with swirly glasses. "That's a Swap monster." then she scours the area and points at a purple flame bitty. "And that's a Fell monster."

"Okay.. But doesn't it matter on having the same breed? Like a Classic for a Classic?"

The elderly woman sighs and looks away. "That's the problem. The breed doesn't matter. Skeleton bittys have to choose their companion. That's what makes it difficult with completing a pair. My little Blueberry had taken an interest in your skellie, so i was hoping his preference was simply the unique breed." she chuckled dryly "But we all know it's simply the soul they look for."

Now you were feeling bad with being so curt with her. You look back and see the Blueberry bitty encouraging Sans down the slide.

"It's a mutation from an overload of magic. He's a rescue so I honestly don't know that much other than what people have told me."

She looks at you surprised for a moment then gives you a sweet smile. "Well you're doing excellent. He's very healthy." She grabs the touch screen at the end of your table and punches some things in. "Let me buy your lunch alright dear? I'm sure we have plenty more to discuss."

You had decided to take Sans back to the bitty shop at least once a week. Especially on days that you were free.

And each time you went, you had 'Younger Brother' owners introduce their bitty's to your Sans in the hopes of completing a pair. You were relieved that Sans never seemed interested in other skeleton bitty's. It was almost tempting to get another skeleton (though you'd never be able to afford one). They were all so cute and dashing. It seemed that the breeds were more complex than what other skeleton owners let on. The breeds literally had two personalities that separated one breed from the other? You had made the mistake to hug an "edgey" Older Brother Fell bitty thinking it was the same as a "cherry" only to get bitten hard. Sans didn't appreciate it and slammed the edgey down with his magic. What was even stranger was how his little red eyelights turn into hearts when it happened.

"So you're not interested in other skeletons?"

You were sipping at your soda and watching another skeleton playing with a cute spider bitty.

"no point."

You quirked your eyebrow for an explanation. Sans shrugged and popped the cap of his ketchup bottle off and stuck a straw in it. After a hefty suckle he sits it down and wipes his teeth with his sleeve.

"you're all i need."


	8. Chapter 7

Mornings with Sans was pretty great. You'd think being coddled by a small skeleton would be uncomfortable and pokey, but most mornings you'd wake up like you did the first month he was here. Other mornings he'd be draped across your stomach, legs, or torso. You believed he slept like that to try and prevent you from getting out of bed because he'd be clenching the sheets and blankets beneath you with his hands and feet.

His magical mutations hadn't advanced at all so he now had his own drawer of clothing that you had altered a little bit. Pants now had a hole for his tail, jackets and shirts now had an additional zipper or buttons on the back for his spinous process to have room. The only problem you had to face was shoes. The way his feet curved was too awkward for human shoes, but they were too long for pet shoes. You carried him most of the time so you didn't worry too much, his doctor had also told you that there was literally no way Sans could damage his feet from rocks or anything due to the gaps between the bones.

Today another body had been found.

And it was horrid. You had Sans stay in the car for this one.

The woman had large cuts all over her upper body, markings on her wrists clueing that she had been strapped to a chair. Other than all the blood that seeped into the concrete behind the dumpster, her eyes had been missing. Blood caking her hair and shirt made both rather hard and stale.

"She'd been dead at least two days."

You nodded in agreement. A dumpster wasn't a bad spot to dispose of a body, especially around restaurants. The smell of expired meats and leftover food always smelt like death. Honestly this person would have gotten away with it if they had made an attempt to actually dispose of the body in the dumpster. Though you wouldn't have a case right now would you.

After combing through the scene thoroughly you got back into your car and buckled up.

"was it really that bad?"

"Super bad."

He crawls back up to the passenger seat and buckles up in his booster chair. You can never get over how cute he is in a toddler's booster chair. He still had to stretch up when he sat straight just to watch outside the window. You loved watching how his attention and posture perks up when he sees a new cloud in the sky, a bird, or even when you pass by some restaurants and see him stick his nose closer to the window.

"Good news, a stray animal did not rip out her eyes. Bad news, someone had obviously ripped out her eyes."

You groan and rub the bridge of your nose. "We knew that."

"Sheesh. Anyway, she'd been tied down then taped here, here, here, and here." He pointed his pen from the woman's wrists, to her elbows. "Whoever did this did NOT want her to escape alive. We can safely assume she had run into some information that may have caused reason for her to be held hostage for abouuuuut -" he looked at his clipboard then watch "- four days prior to being dead for two."

You frowned as you went through her clothing for a fourth time. They seemed to be just casual clothes that could work as business casual. You glanced at the print off's of the woman lying on the table behind you. Poor thing just graduated from college. You sit everything down and shed off your sterilized gloves.

"For now we need to file down this case separate from the others. We need to go to her college and get the rest of her information to contact emergency contacts, while there we need to get her schedule and camera feeds. With that we'll be able to either find her dorm or an address of where she was living."

Everyone nodded in agreement.

"Perhaps speaking to her professors will help out with understanding her as well."

You looked to Larson and smiled, "Yes that's a great idea. Are we all finished?" without looking up you grabbed your copies and straightened them in your manilla folder and stepped out.

This case was one of those ones that you had to wait patiently to do. But lucky for you, you had another project.

Rounding the corner you easily spotted Sans and quickened your pace. You picked him up from underneath where his pits would be and propped him up on your hip. "We're done for the day, where'd you like to go?" He snuffles your hands and clothes for a moment then props his skull on your shoulder. "if you still got work, we can go to the center?"

You smiled and patted his head. He was always looking out for your paperwork when you were more than willing to procrastinate and play with him instead. But when he offered on going to the bitty shop on a new case day, he knew you'd have a lot of it.

"Okay okay, let's go." Leaning over, you allowed him to grab your briefcase and coat and the two of you set out.

You nibbled on your cheesey bread and twirled your stylus in your other hand.

Your other project was your new hobby. Due to the limited knowledge on skeleton bitty's you had decided to do what Larson did, but more extensive. You wrote and catalogued anything and everything owners told you that they knew and were positive about their own skellies. Thank goodness for living in such a large city, you were able to meet new skeletons every time you visited. It had gotten to the point that the other owners had invited you to a 'Skellie Love' group page, invitation only. It was simple enough that Sans could communicate with other skellies while you were busy.

Though on multiple occasions the owners tried hooking up their bitty with your's. You politely declined, and so did Sans.

Some nights you'd see him stare longingly at paired 'Brothers' pictures online.

You had already finished what you could of your actually work after a few calls and online conversations, and you had nothing else to update on your own project. So today you were able to actually just sit there and watch Sans.

Some days he would be more active than others, today was one of those days. He was teleporting all over the place, you assumed he was playing tag. None of the other bitty's were able to get near him. Every now and then an armless yellow lizard would fall flat on it's face and Sans would blip right next to it and sit it back up with his tail then disappear again. You've noticed when he used his magic in often short bursts, his magic would build up in his left socket again. Though when he concentrates it seems to form into a little eye light as normal. But you're still confused why the other socket doesn't form something similar.

For a moment you don't see him at all until an 'oof' across the table startles you and you see him slumped against his chair panting. You gently push a small cup of water to him. "It'll cool you down." He whines for a moment but reluctantly grabs the water and literally just dumps all of it into his mouth. "Ketchup?"

You sigh and push over his bottle of ketchup and he starts sucking on the straw. "Did you tire yourself out?"

Sans drinks half the bottle before sitting it down and laying his head on the table. "mmhmmm." He peeks up and looks at your briefcase sitting on the floor, "did ya finish work?" you nod and start gathering up all of your table trash. "Pretty much, gotta go to the university tomorrow." His tail starts clinking again the metal of his chair and you grin. "What? You wanna go?"

He hops up to his feet in the chair and leans as close to you as he can, "can i?" Sans' tail is speedily wagging in pure happiness. " 'Course you can. Now let's go home."

You'd never thought Sans would have an interest in science. Well to be more specific, quantum physics. It was a huge surprise for you that he was able to keep up with the professor's' lecture as you talked to the Chancellor.

Larson was already receiving video feeds while you asked questions.

"Anyway, so here are her files.. Annd, oh! A list of her professors. And -"

You started tuning him out, you couldn't really help it. His voice was so boring and monotonous. So you started flipping through her stuff. No absences. No sick leaves, or sick days. Average grades. Oh? She was studying to be a bitty health physician. Checking her professors and grades again you noticed that in that particular class she had very high scores. "Sorry to interrupt sir, but I need to go question the professors before their lunch is over." You shake the Chancellor's hand and allow Sans to crawl up your legs and cling onto your back.

Sans takes the files and sheets of paper from your hands so you can fish out your phone and send a quick text to Larson. "a bitty physician?"

"Mhmm."

After walking to almost the complete opposite side of the university, you finally arrived at the professor's office. When you asked her about the student in question, she showed optimism that the female study was a very bright and intellectual young lady and she had received an interview last week for a very promising bitty job.

"She hadn't told me much. Though I am worried that they're working her too hard. She hadn't answered any of my calls or messages. But I do know it was a type of bitty breeding for the endangered bitty's that have difficulties procreating. Like your skeleton there!"

"Skeletons have a problem procreating?"

"Indeed they do!" She looked so excited just to give you a sex talk on bitty's. "Literally all skeletons are male. So unlike other bitty's like bunny's and such they can't really form a place to help form a new soul. They have to literally share each half a soul with another more physical piece of themself. A rib, limb, finger, anything really for the soul to attach to and form into a young 'baby bones'."

In mid rant you had quickly grabbed anything to write with and on, which ended up being a dry erase marker and your own arm.

"But due to the pairing and companionship that skeleton bitty's do, if one messes up and falls. The other will fall. Then you end up two bitty's less."

"How would they mess up?"

She looks surprised for a moment and glances to Sans over your shoulder.

"Well.. The Older Brother bitty's tend to have 1 HP. In most cases the Older Brother is the skeleton that falls first. Oh.. Uh. Would you just like a copy of my print off? You're running out of room on your arm."

You finally looked down to your arm and saw the large sloppy smudged writing. "Yes, sorry that would be helpful." She walks off to her enormous stacks of study sheets on her desk. You gently reach a hand up and rub Sans' cheek. "You okay buddy?"

" 'm fine."

"You sure?"

"yea, jus' learning new stuff about me almost everyday? feels weird that i don't know that about m'self."

You kiss his cheek before the professor comes back with the stapled papers.

"Anyway. I hope my top student is doing okay out there. I'm sorry I couldn't give you anymore information other than that"

"Oh, no thank you. You were extremely helpful."

You shake her hand and thank her again before stepping outside and seeing Larson standing off to the side.

"You got her address?"

"Yea I did."

Sans passes over a small note card with girls' address on it.

"Seems she was living in an apartment on the other side of town. We just gotta get a warrant and check it out."

He nods and stares at you then Sans for a moment and walks away.

Weird


	9. Chapter 8

The girl's parents had finally gotten a hold of the department. They came, wept, and agree'd to let you and Larson into her apartment to look for clues and to assist with packing. You didn't HAVE to help. You just thought it'd be easier on the parents.

And sadly the apartment was a complete wreck.

It didn't look like a break in but rather an organized mess.

A few good things came out of this.

You received her notes from school that were also dated after she had graduated. Obviously evidence, you kept telling yourself. A list of addresses for bitty hospitals, and shops in this city and other smaller city and towns in the area. This kid was a good bean.

The parents had to take breaks to cry. It was so often that Sans had stuck to their side and tossed puns left and right. It made them feel better.

"She loved bitties so much. But her ultimate favorite were skeletons."

You could have guessed that. Her entire apartment had skeleton themed decorations and items.

"First stop is surprisingly our very own Bitty Shop."

You and Larson had deducted that the list of address' where possible jobs for the girl, or interviews. So the possibility of her at least visiting one of the area's would've been extremely helpful. Sans immediately runs off to the play area.

"Oh yes! She had come in requesting an interview a few times. We called her number but she never answered."

"Do you remember the last day she came in and when you called for an interview?"

Out of the corner of your eye, you see Sans talking to a few of the regular bitty visitors.

"Hmmm. Well I'm sure it's on the phone file when I called. But I know she was here two days before I called."

She excuses herself to find the call logs.

"What is he doing?"

Larson finally turns to see what your asking about. "I think he's questioning them?"

Sans is standing as straight as he can to tower over the other bitties, though it wasn't needed in the first place. He has a piece of paper out with one hand while the other is resting casually in his pocket. "Not bad."

You look up at Larson a bit confused.

"Monsters can easily communicate and relay news to each other by just getting a 'feel' of each other's souls. It's like a private hotline between them. Like bat's with sonar, or coyotes at night. So just by asking if they've seen a particular human, he'll know anything he needs just by you walking down the street with him."

"That's really convenient."

He nods in agreement while the two of you watch Sans walk around. You can't help but notice the paper he's holding isn't a photo, but lined paper with a crude doodle and some scribbles on it. It's the thought that counts though.

"How has he been?"

"His behavior has settled. I'm hoping that he's feeling comfortable enough to be completely himself."

"What do you mean?"

You check Sans again before continuing. He has a little flame bitty gesturing every now and then, other than that you don't know if it's actually talking.

"We'll be joking around, shopping, watching tv, cooking, anything really and he'll say one pun and freeze up. After a moment or if I initiate another pun, he'll finally calm down and talk again. I have to completely avoid spaghetti. Before I couldn't understand why until I started learning more about pairings and stuff. I think he may have previously had a companion, but has no memory of it. He hasn't felt any need to pair up with another skeleton."

Larson's fingers tapping at the table distract you for a moment. "His case is getting more and more interesting."

Sans hadn't said anything about his conversations with the bitty's from any of the locations you visited. Maybe he didn't get any information that could be used as a clue. He seemed to be in a good mood too, the ride home you could hear his tail thwump against the seat.

"What do you want for dinner?"

From the corner of your eye he looks contemplative for a moment, "chili dogs." he presses his face back to your car door so he can try and peek through the window.

"That's all?"

"mhm."

"Okay then."

You finally arrive home and start dinner by dropping a pack of wieners in a pot of water. Turning, you open the cabinet to grab a can of chili only to toss it in the air in surprise when you see Sans is just sitting on the counter out of the blue. The can hits the floor loudly and you flinch from the sound.

"Jesus Sans, you scared the skin offa me."

You grab the can off the floor and hook it up to the can opener and start twisting the handle.

"that can happen?!"

His mortified expression causes you to chuckle. "No silly." He relaxes again and pulls another pot out of the cabinet and holds it out for you. "Thank you sweetie."

"so like. what happens when no one can solve a case?"

You spoon out all the chili into your slowly warming pot. "Well, if we can't find anymore clues or a more important issue pops up that needs us, a different team or department takes over. If our clues takes us to a different jurisdiction that isn't ours, then we have to give up copies of our stuff for who's next."

"like the first two bodies?"

"Yea."

"like me?"

You tense up and glance over at him. He's looking down and fiddling with the bones in his tail, contemplating on wringing it or his hands. "Sweetie no." You sit down your spoon and scoop him up in your arms. "Your case is mine. No one is ever gunna take your case from me. Why are you thinking such things?" his tiny little hands are clenching the sleeves of your shirt and he shoves his head up under your chin awkwardly. "if someone took my case, they'd have to take me?"

Sighing you pat and rub his back with one hand and turn the heat down on the stove and walk to the living room. "There's absolutely no chance anyone can take you from me. I adopted you. You're in my care now, forever."

"not even my original owner?"

"Not even him."

Gently, you rub the top of his skull with the tips of your short dull nails. "What brought all this on buddy?"

Sans snuffles your neck and chest then settles the side of his skull against your chest. "jus that all the major jobs you've been doin' get passed to someone else.." You lean down and start laying kisses all over the top of his skull. "You're my family, no one's taking you from me."

Just as Sans had predicted, a month later your case was given to someone else who didn't have enough work. Though anytime a possible clue had come up, they always dragged you and Larson in to consult on the new evidence.

Sans stays latched to your back through the meeting. You didn't miss the disapproving looks from the other detectives and higher ups from the other department.

At the end you stay behind to collect your own and Larson's files and paperwork.

"How could they allow a monster in the department?"

"Must be why we're getting all these cases, maybe they're covering up something."

"It kept glaring at me ugh."

You frown and hold your stack where Sans could easily grab it and walk up to the other investigators. "Is there a problem here?" They look at you and glance at each other then direct their full attention on you.

"Actually yes. We were concerned how the Chief allowed monsters in the meeting."

"Especially with how everything said today was confidential information."

You stand up straighter and pull out your flip badge that has Sans' badge attached.

"Well last I checked it wasn't any of your business on who gets accepted into the meetings especially - " you try to mock their tone, "since he helped retrieve evidence for the previous cases given to your department. In which one of those, I must add, was a very crucial detail and vital for the whole thing."

You've already pocketed your badge and look them up and down.

"If anything he's more professional and productive with this job than the two of you combined."

At this point Sans is nuzzling his face into the back of your neck and rattling a soft purr, its almost hard to keep a straight face with how much it tickles.

"Though if you want to file a complaint with my Chief, feel free. I'm sure she wants to hear your racist thoughts and take back this case."

They grimace and shoot you a weak glare before stomping out.

"Assholes."

Sans relaxes against your back the moment they're out and rubs a hand on your bun in a petting motion, you can feel your loose strands of hair get tangled between his joints.

"thank you."

His face boops the side of your cheek in a skeleton kiss. He even goes as far to saying a light "muah" to show it was a kiss.

"No problem sweetie."

It's bullshit how people can act like that.


End file.
